Recovering from an early blow in MTT

Simple question.

Assume u were playing a MTT and within the first couple orbits you take a bad beat, or make a bad play, or whatever it is your result is that you lose chips. Lets say a good amount, anywhere from 50%-75% of your stack or more.

What is some advice for hanging in the tourny short stacked? Is the best way to go to just tighten up, wait for a good hand, shove, and hope to double up?

Any feedback is great.

Thanks ppls,

wlee013

If you get crippled early in the tournament, you will likely be the only short stack at your table and you should be careful not to panic, but instead choose your spots carefully. Try to pick spots against loose opponents and double up to get back into the game. You can steal some blinds from tighter players, but it may not be worth it early in the tournament when the blinds are small. Don’t fall into the trap of going into push/fold mode too early when you still have plenty of chips relative to the blinds. For example, If your pocket aces get cracked at level 1 and you end up with 500 chips, don’t start pushing with blinds of 10/20 - you still have > 16M!.

Having said that you have to pay careful attention to your opponents and adjust your strategy appropriately. If you notice a player that limps and folds to a big raise, then you can push with a wide range of hands expecting a fold. If a loose-aggressive player raises in front of you, you can re-raise all-in with a fairly strong hand and expect to be called with a decent chance to double up.

I would agree with the previous poster insofar as taking a big hit or being "short stacked" to me really depends not so much on the size of my stack relative to everyone else or to my own starting stack, but rather relative to the blinds. So if you are in a standard tourney where you start with 1500 in chips, and lose half of them or even three quarters and end up with 500, if the blinds are still 10/20 then you still have an M of 25, and will even still have above 15 when you hit the next level. That's plenty of breathing room to continue playing smart poker, waiting for the right hands to raise and bet with.

I will add that this is one reason why some players will even go so far as to simply refuse to play the first orbit or the first few hands of any tournament regardless of cards, unless they have absolute monsters like pocket rockets or pocket kings, simply because there's always a chance you might lose, and it really sucks to lose big really early in a tournament, simply from a psychological perspective (i.e. getting your QQ cracked by a crap hand from an all-in donk call is enough to put even the coolest of customers on tilt). You also this way avoid the all-in free for all that sometimes takes place in the micro-stakes MTTs and Freerolls.

But if you do find yourself in that situation, like I said before look at your stack compared to the blinds, and base your strategy on that. If you're below 10xBB or will be there at the next level, it's time to push or fold. But if you're still above 15xBB, don't jump the gun; wait for some hands and just play your game. It'll just take a couple of well played pots to get you out of your hole.

Hope that's helpful.

Best, T.

It is almost never too late for patience. Losing even 80 percent of your chip stack early is no reason to go on tilt if the blinds aren't too high. Don't get me wrong, I might put more faith in K J off suit than I would if I had my full stack. But I wouldn't go all in with 6 9 just because I was in the big blind. I was always taught not to freak out until you are down to 10xBB (as was mentioned by Tublecain). I consider this a pretty good rule.

I can think of quite a few tourneys where I came back and placed in the money after going down to 200 chips in the first 10 minutes. The reason - PATIENCE.

Good luck at the tables.

well it's quite simple. when you 're short stacked you play very few hands I for example when i am short stacked and get a good hand(a big pair) i go all in before the flop. in conclusion the best way to deal with a short stack is to tighten your game.

ps. patience is very important when you are short on chips. good luck

I am actually going to respectfully disagree with this. I'm not saying it's bad to play tight with a shortstack, but I think it depends on the context. For example, if it's early in the tournament and your table is still full then I think you can still be somewhat selective with your hands, waiting for a decent one to push with that'll either get you some blinds or have a caller or two and help you double up.

However, if it's getting late in the tournament, on the bubble and close to ITM, and your table has become shorthanded (less than six players) those blinds are going to chop you down in no time flat. You have to make a move sometimes regardless of your cards. But in this context its ok, because being close to ITM means that most players are playing tight anyway, and you can probably get them to fold with a shove. Nothing's guaranteed, but if you don't make a move quick, and your 10xBB stack is all of a sudden a 5xBB stack, then you probably won't get anyone to fold and are pretty much running out of options.

Basically what I'm saying is, always take your surroundings into consideration when choosing how you're going to play. Some situations call for you to be tight, others loose. Keep your eyes open and watch for opportunities.

That's my two cents. Hope its helpful, and good luck!

I normally just try to keep tight until i see a good hand and hope i get lucky with a nice flop... one thing is its not too bad to take an early blow because the blinds are soooooo low... its worse late in the tournament... but i think you just stay tight and hope to hit a nice hand a win a few pots

Probably the best thing you can hope for is to push with pockets or a-k.
But if you don't get those hands, play tight, limp in a few times and hope that nobody raises. You might want to even limp then all-in with premium hands so that people call you.

Its always hard though when you have people calling purely out of value and your cards don't turn up.
Poker is also luck after all you can't do much against a bad flop or runner/runner

^^^ This. +1
I've been there. Pick your spots very carefully.

i agree with storm chaser, if you lose most of your stack right away, make sure not to panic. Even with most of your stack gone early in an mtt, blinds are usually low enough that you can survive for awhile. Sit tight and wait for a couple of high cards of a decent pocket pair and shove. All it takes is one good hand to get back into the tournament

Definitely - don't panic and continue to be patient. I might be a little more risky than normal once I'm in a hand though, and would really like to double up if at all possible.

Just remember.. overcards v. undercards.. you still are a 40/60 dog to win.. so what do you have to lose?

Short stacked (Lower than 10-15BBs) you need to 2x up to play normally so shove with decent/marginal holdings in the right spots. For ex:

- UTG or early position - shoving with A + rag is a bad idea as you probably have one card live. You're better off shoving with connectors or a pocket and pray noone has a bigger pocket to dominate you.

I've come back from 400 chips to win a tourney (only 18 ppl but still).. if there's a time you need to get lucky, it's probably now.. shouldn't have gotten into this situation in the first place but hey let's hope the poker gods favour yer! I shoved with 47o, I had 2 callers.. had 2 pair and tripled up! You never know!

REMEMBER: Don't tighten up, but rather PICK YOUR SPOTS. Better to go out guns blazing then get blinded out!

IMHO, the idea about limping with AK or pockets.. can be really dumb. You'll miss with AK 1/3 of the time and pockets.. you wanna isolate one person and 2x easily and not pray to his a set. If you're in late position, fine but if you're in early.. SHOVE IT! About min raising with AA or KK to get some action, I tend to realise that's what short stacks then to do and I catch on to it but still call and get caught so it kinda does work. But remember to draw the line between TRAPPING and ISOLATING. What hands do you want to trap with and isolate. Remember AA v 3 ppl.. your chances go down from 87% to 60+% v. any random hand. Imagine going up vs 4 ppl or the whole table!

Scenario; Early tourney devastation.

Depending on how big a stack you are left with becomes really very important. If all of a sudden your M is 10 you must act faster than if you are left with an M of 20.

After the first 3 or 4 orbits, most tables in most tourneys have 'calmed down'. If M~~20 then you can play fairly wide IN POSITION, using standard betting. If M~~10, then you should approach this as a do or die situation. You do not want to lose too much more ground, and theivery is you best weapon. So, if you don't have a maniac at your table, you will want to be Shoving almost any hand you decide to play. Shoving is all-in, pushing is agressive raising, and reraising. I don't want to be pushing when I'm short stacked, I want no further decission making so If my M~~10, I'm putting the pressure on the rest of the table. This works most of the time. When it doesn't, and you shove into rockets, well, cest le' vie.

If your M~~20, you still have room to be agressive, and steal but you must be much more selective. You won't have to shove, but by no means should you limp without monsters. You need to minimize the events which will eat your stack. So if you raise and get reraised by a loose player with a big stack, you should shove not fold. This means you are not entering the play without something pretty good going for you and your hand.

As said, patience is the key. when you M~~20, u can wait. You can wait 40 hands till your M is 15 or 10, if you haven't found anything of value by then, accept the fates decree that you ain't gonna get it done today.

myself if i get a earley beat and only have say 20/30 percent of my chips left i would first just no be 2 pissed of by it and try to pick the right cards and hope for the double up im assuming the blinds are evey 10 mins then
its pretty easy to sit back relax and waite for the right moment.

mabe if you are reli peed off and just feel like pushing with anything because you feel like you have no chance then give give yourself a few min's to calm down and go back to it and play your little heart out lol

Just tighten up a bit and wait for your spots. If it's still in the first few levels of the tourny, you won't be in desperate shape yet with 15BB or more remaining. Just get in the mindset that you still want to make the most of this tourny with what chips you have left. All it takes is a double up or two and you are right back in it.

If it is early then you have got time to wait at the blinds are low. Dont dive in too soon with an average hand.